News

Real grass was laid on green by mistake

ARTIFICIAL grass is still yet to appear on Bourton’s picturesque village green – but only because real turf was laid by mistake.

The fake grass had been due to be installed on a 30 square metre patch which is wearing away on one of the verges between the path and the river.

Parish councillors voted in favour of trialling the artificial grass at their September meeting after vice-chairman Richard Johnes pointed out some of the patches were looking threadbare.

But at their last council meeting, Coun Johnes said “due to an administrative oversight”

the artificial grass had still not been laid because real grass had been put down instead.

“We re-turfed the area that we were going to use artificial turf on,” he said. “We are going to move the turf. It’s only just gone down in the last few days.

“We are going to move the turf to another part of the green. We are proceeding with the artificial turf.”

The council spends about £1,000 every autumn to patch up the grass, which has worn away during the summer when thousands of tourists from across the globe descend on the Cotswold village.

The more hard-wearing artificial grass would help the council cut down on its repair costs as it is likely to last for 10 years before needing to be replaced.

The council has made clear that it is only one small patch of the green which will be turfed artificially and there are no plans to extend it further, after coming under criticism over the plans in some quarters and the news making national headlines.